Hampshire Constabulary Road Safety Sergeant, Rob Heard said that throughout the campaign officers raised the awareness of the dangers of speeding to people and reminded those who drive goods vehicles how their speed varies on certain roads.

‘These results show that too many people are still speeding on our roads and by doing so are putting their own lives at risk, as well as others’ he said.

‘A total of 82 per cent of people caught speeding during our campaign were in 30 or 40mph limits. These speed limits are in areas where the hazards and various road users are often increased.

‘Excessive or inappropriate speed has a singularly devastating impact on the safety of all road users, increasing the risk of not only being involved in a crash but also the severity of the consequences.

‘The forces experience by the human body in a collision increase exponentially as the speed increases. If you collide with a pedestrian at 30mph they have a 80% chance of survival, however if you collide at 40mph then the pedestrian only has a 20% chance of survival.

‘Hampshire Constabulary and Thames Valley Police are committed to increasing road safety and will continue to target those who fail to abide by the speed limits throughout the year.

‘Nearly 50% of all those caught have will be offered a National Speed Awareness course as an alternative to prosecution. Our aim is to improve the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of any driver who speeds, thereby reducing the likelihood of the driver being involved in a future speeding incident and make our roads safer.’

Results breakdown

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71 per cent of drivers caught speeding were male and 29 per cent female

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0.1 per cent of offences were committed in 20mph limit

61 per cent of offences were committed in 30mph limit

21 per cent of offences were committed in 40mph limit (many in the New Forest)

3 per cent of offences were committed in 60mph limit

11 per cent of offences were committed in 70mph limit

3.9 per cent of offences were committed on other speed restrictions

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46 per cent were offered referral course

8 per cent were given a verbal warning

34 per cent were give a fixed penalty notice

12 per cent were reported for summons

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92 per cent offences were committed by car drivers

3 per cent offences were committed by motorcyclists

4 per cent offences were committed by Van drivers

1 per cent offences committed by lorry drivers

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Excuses

A 7.5 tonne delivery truck was stopped doing 41mph in a 30mph speed limit. The section of road is a steep incline and when the driver was stopped he said ‘well at least my stopping distance is reduced because I’m going up hill’

Another motorist on the same road going up the hill when was stopped for doing 44mph, the conversation went with him as follows